Tuesday 9 October 2012

Parrot-like dinosaur described

A newly-described dinosaur resembled a weird combination of parrot, vampire bat and porcupine.
Pegomastax africanus, which measured less than two feet, lived in southern Africa some 200 million years ago.

Despite having a parrot-like beak and eating plants, it also sported vampire-like pairs of sharp-edged fangs.
Scientists believe the enlarged canines may have been used for self defence and competitive sparring. Most of the dinosaur's body was covered in sharp bristles, or quills.

Professor Paul Sereno, from the University of Chicago in the US, said it would have looked like a "nimble two-legged porcupine".

A single fossil specimen of the species was originally extracted from red rock in the 1960s. Later it was "discovered" in a collection of fossils at Harvard University in the US. Details of the creature's anatomy and lifestyle were published in the online journal ZooKeys.

Continued:  http://uk.news.yahoo.com/parrot-dinosaur-described-162418294.html

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